Economic causes of the Eurozone crisis: the analytical contribution of Comparative Capitalism

Abstract

The article discusses advances and limitations of Comparative Capitalism scholarship on the causes of the Eurozone crisis. It explains the crisis by highlighting four basic mechanisms: first, the absence of a system of coordinated wage bargaining has been made responsible for the loss of cost competitiveness. Second, the specialization in price-sensitive medium-quality goods and the corresponding loss of market sharesto emerging markets has been attributed to the weak innovation systems of Southern economies. Third, the loss of competitiveness has been masked temporarily by a strong increase of public indebtedness and, fourth, private household indebtedness. These four explanations do not put the blame for the Eurozone crisis on a single government or a single type of actors, but rather highlight the systemic causes for the crisis, brought about by the construction of a common currency for institutionally very heterogeneous economies.